The role of leadership theory in raising the profile of women in management

Purpose: To consider how leadership theories have helped or hindered raising the profile of women in management and leadership roles.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper traces the earlier leadership theories through to the contemporary research on transactional and transformational leadership styles and offers a viewpoint on how each theory has contributed, or otherwise, to an awareness and acceptance of women in management and leadership roles.

Findings:  In 1990, research began to report gender differences in leadership styles with female managers being seen in positive terms as participative, democratic leaders. More recent work reports that women are believed to exhibit more transformational leadership style than their male colleagues, and this is equated with effective leadership.

Research limitations/implications:  All of the earlier theories on leadership excluded women and this exacerbated the problem of women not being seen as an appropriate fit in a management or leadership role. Recent findings clearly describe that the transformational qualities of leadership that women exhibit are required by the flatter organisational structures of today. Therefore, a more positive outcome for women advancing to senior roles of management or leadership may be observed in the future.

Originality/value:  The paper reviews the major leadership theories, and links these to a timeframe to illustrate how women were not visible in a management context until relatively recently. Such an omission may have contributed to the continuing low numbers of women who advance to senior management and leadership roles.

'I am, by God, fit for high positions' : on the political role of women in al-Andalus

Narrating and explaining the fairly emancipated women in al-Andalus has been fraught with ambiguity for the approximately one century of scholarship on the subject. There has been much stereotyping depending upon the investigator's particular perspective. This paper clarifies the roles of Andalusian women in political relations from the Muslim Conquest in 711 through the fall of Granada in 1492. The interpretations used in historiography pit a traditionalist trend, in which continuity from the pre 1slamic past is stressed, against the anti-continuist trend, in which an Oriental culture of the Muslims added the distinctive features of Iberian character today. In order to evaluate the two historiographic approaches, the contributions of seven prominent women are presented and evaluated for their social contexts during the eight centuries of al-Andalus. Comparisons are then made to prominent women in other political contexts within the Arab world in order to evaluate the strength of the two competing historiographic perspectives.

Sociodemographic correlates of the increasing trend in prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus in a large population of women between 1995 and 2005

OBJECTIVE—Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is an increasingly prevalent risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes in the mother and is  responsible for morbidity in the child. To better identify women at risk of developing GDM we examined sociodemographic correlates and changes in the prevalence of GDM among all births between 1995 and 2005 in Australia's largest state.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—A computerized database of all births (n = 956,738) between 1995 and 2005 in New South Wales, Australia, was used in a multivariate logistic regression that examined the association between sociodemographic characteristics and the occurrence of GDM.
RESULTS—Between 1995 and 2005, the prevalence of GDM increased by 45%, from 3.0 to 4.4%. Women born in South Asia had the highest adjusted odds ratio (OR) of any region (4.33 [95% CI 4.12–4.55]) relative to women born in Australia. Women living in the three lowest socioeconomic quartiles had higher adjusted ORs for GDM relative to women in the highest quartile (1.54 [1.50–1.59], 1.74 [1.69–1.8], and 1.65 [1.60–1.70] for decreasing socioeconomic status quartiles). Increasing age was strongly associated with GDM, with women aged >40 years having an adjusted OR of 6.13 (95% CI 5.79–6.49) relative to women in their early 20s. Parity was associated with a small reduced risk. There was no association between smoking and GDM.
CONCLUSIONS—Maternal age, socioeconomic position, and ethnicity are important correlates of GDM. Future culturally specific interventions should target prevention of GDM in these high-risk groups.

Separate spheres and public policy : the role of women in the development of children's services in Victorian local government, 1840-1992

The thesis is an explanation of the development of pre-school children's services (infant welfare, kindergartens and child care) at local government level in Victoria. The critical framework of analysis focuses on three dimensions of public policy: 1) the socio-historical environment; 2) the political processes involved in the development of the specific children's service; and 3) the major individuals and groups that exerted pressure for children's service, The argument is threefold. Firstly it is argued that the political environment of children's services has been dominated by the practice of separate spheres of public and private, in which the care of children is primarily the role of women. Secondly, it is argued that the political processes surrounding the development of local children's services have involved all levels of government in what is termed a local state. Thirdly, it is argued that the development of these children's services in local government has resulted mainly from the work of women both individually and collectively. Since the three services of infant welfare, kindergartens and child care all became a normal function of children's services at different times, the circumstances that surrounded each development exhibited different aspects of the three major arguments. The periodisation is broken into four phases: 1) the establishment of local government with no children's services in the nineteenth century; 2) the establishment of infant welfare services in local government in the early part of the twentieth century; 3) the incorporation of kindergartens into local government after the second world war; and 4) the incorporation of child care into local government in the 1970s and 1980s. The thesis concludes by arguing that the existence of children's services in local government in Victoria is testimony to the remarkable work of those women who have pursued the issue both individually and collectively. It has been the identification of children's services as a women's issue in Australian politics that has enabled women's groups at different times to influence the policy makers in diverse ways. However, while the establishment of children's services as a legitimate political concern brings the matter onto the public agenda, the separate spheres still remains a contested issue in the public policies of children's services.

Nursing work and nursing knowledge : exploring the work of women's health nurses, patterns of power and praxis

The majority of women's health nurses in this study work in generalist community health centres. They have developed their praxis within the philosophy and policies of the broader women's health movement and primary health care principles in Australia. The fundamental assumption underlying this study is that women's health nurses possess a unique body of knowledge and clinical wisdom that has not been previously documented and explored. The epistemological base from which these nurses' operate offers important insights into the substantive issues that create and continually shape the practice world of nurses and their clients. Whether this represents a (re)construction of the dominant forms of health care service delivery for women is examined in this study. The study specifically aims at exploring the practice issues and experience of women's health service provision by women's health nurses in the context of the provision of cervical cancer screening services. In mapping this particular group of nurses practice, it sets out to examine the professional and theoretical issues in contemporary nursing and women's health care. In critically analysing the powerful discourses that shape and reshape nursing work, the study raises the concern that previous analyses of pursing work tend to universalise the structural and social subordination of nurses and nursing knowledge. This universalism is most often based on examples of midwifery and nursing work in hospital settings, and subsequently, because of these conceptualisations, all of nursing is too often deemed as a dependent occupation, with little agency, and is analysed as always in relation to medicine, to hospitals, to other knowledge forms. Denoting certain discourses as dominant proposes a relationship of power and knowledge and the thesis argues that all work relations and practices in health are structured by certain power/knowledge relations. This analysis reveals that there IX are many competing and complimentary power/knowledge relations that structure nursing, but that nursing, and in particular women's health nurses, also challenge the power/knowledge relations around them. Through examining theories of power and knowledge the analysis, argues that theoretical eclecticism is necessary to address the complex and varied nature of nursing work. In particular it identifies that postmodern and radical feminist theorising provide the most appropriate framework to further analyse and interpret the work of women's health nurses. Fundamental to the position argued in this thesis is a feminist perspective. This position creates important theoretical and methodological links throughout the whole study. Feminist methodology was employed to guide the design, the collection and the analysis. Intrinsic to this process was the use of the 'voices' of women's health nurses as the basis for theorising. The 'voices' of these nurses are highlighted in the chapters as italicised bold script. A constant companion along the way in examining women's health nurses' work, was the reflexivity with feminist research processes, the theoretical discussions and their 'voices'. Capturing and analysing descriptive accounts of nursing praxis is seen in this thesis as providing a way to theorise about nursing work. This methodology is able to demonstrate the knowledge forms embedded in clinical nursing praxis. Three conceptual threads emerge throughout the discussions: one focuses on nursing praxis as a distinct process, with its own distinct epistemological base rather than in relation to 'other' knowledge forms; another describes the medical restriction and opposition as experienced by this group of nurses, but also of their resistance to medical opposition. The third theme apparent from the interviews, and which was conceptualised as beyond resistance, was the description of the alternative discourses evident in nursing work, and this focused on notions of being a professional and on autonomous nursing praxis. This study concludes that rather than accepting the totalising discourses about nursing there are examples within nursing of resistance—both ideologically and X in practice—to these dominant discourses. Women's health nurses represent an important model of women's health service delivery, an analysis of which can contribute to critically reflecting on the 'paradigm of oppression' cited in nursing and about nursing more generally. Reflecting on women's health service delivery also has relevance in today's policy environment, where structural shifts in Commonwealth/State funding arrangements in community based care, may undermine women's health programs. In summary this study identifies three important propositions for nursing: • nursing praxis can reconstruct traditional models of health care; • nursing praxis is powerful and able to 'resist' dominant discourses; and • nursing praxis can be transformative. Joining feminist perspectives and alternative analyses of power provides a pluralistic and emancipatory politics for viewing, describing and analysing 'other' nursing work. At the micro sites of power and knowledge relations—in the everyday practice worlds of nurses, of negotiation and renegotiation, of work on the margins and at the centre—women's health nurses' praxis operates as a positive, productive and reconstructive force in health care.

Women's bodies, self perception and physical activity : a naturalistic study of women's participation in aerobics classes

The aim of this study was to describe the behaviour and perceptions of women in aerobic or exercise to music classes. In particular, the study examined the meaning women attach to this activity choice and the interaction of aerobics participation with cultural pressures and beliefs such as that of the ‘ideal female bodyshape’. A naturalistic method of study was chosen in order to gain a comprehensive view of the subjective experience of aerobics participation. Approximately fifty female health club members were observed over a three month period in order to identify and describe patterns of involvement, behaviour and perception and the factors affecting them. Six groups of women were identified. These were ‘Naturals’, ‘Compulsive’, ‘Functional Feminist’. Several factors were observed as potentially contributing to the patterns observed. These included attitude toward perceived cultural ideals and pressures of female expectation and shape, perceptions of aerobics and exercise, pre-occupation with slenderness and bodyshape, self-image and body image. The relationship between these factors was found to be dynamic and reciprocal, with participation possibly intensifying or alternately reducing bodyshape concern. Aerobics was seen to have a multifaceted yet very individual and important appeal to the women observed.

Transitions : experiences of women with type 1 diabetes : Turning points and transitions as experienced by young women with type 1 diabetes in Australia

The relationship among psychosocial stress, coping and metabolic control has a key effect on diabetes clinical outcomes and mental health. Life transitions are peak times of major change within personal and social contexts, which add stress affecting on peoples? problem solving. The thesis describes young women with Type 1 diabetes? perspectives of the problems encountered and how they managed them when they faced turning points and made life transitions. The study identified the women?s health concerns and factors that enhanced or hindered their ability to manage turning points and transitions. A substantive theory that comprised a problem of ?being in the grip of blood glucose levels? (BGLs) and a process termed ?creating stability? to manage life transitions was developed. The state of being in the grip of BGLs was associated with the impact of fluctuating BGLs; responses of other people to the womens? diabetes and the impact of diabetes on other people?s lives. The women managed these problems by engaging in social and psychological strategies helping them to stabilised their lives and feel more in control during life transitions.

Exploring barriers to uptake of breast cancer screening in South East London : a study of women's views.

Research on both sides of the Atlantic demonstrates that achieving high uptake of breast cancer screening remains an important area of public heath concern. UK government targets for breast screening uptake are 70%, however, much lower figures are found in many parts of the country, including South East London. This paper reports the findings of a study carried out to explore the views of women aged 50 to 64 (the age group covered by the free National Health Service screening programme) in order to: · establish in what way women who do not attend for screening are different from women who do attend · ascertain the views of the non-attenders with a view to making recommendations to the service which may help address the low uptake locally.

305 women were recruited through a variety of different community sources across the study area. Using a structured questionnaire/interview, women gave their views on their health concerns generally, as well as on breast screening in particular. The analysis (being undertaken now, to be completed by May 2005) will explore the influence of candidacy (women's assessment of the personal risk to them of their disease) on women's screening behaviour and the differences, if any, between the major ethnic groups in the area, indigenous white, black African and black Caribbean.

Learning Objectives:
# At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to

* 1. Describe the factors associated with women’s screening behaviour
* 2. Evaluate the relevance of candidacy in understanding screening behaviour
* 3. Assess the relevance of UK findings for screening programmes elsewhere.

Physical activity for mothers of young children : perceptions of women and health-related professionals

This research develops understanding of women's perceptions and practices around physical activity when they are mothers of young children. The findings inform current approaches to promoting physical activity, helping to bring about better health outcomes for women, their families and the wider community.

Examining representations of women's leadership in the media and Australian universities

Examines how diverse academic women educational leaders experienced and negotiated media representations of leadership in their work. The thesis argues that feminist leadership analyses assume a commonality of women's interests, ignoring the diversity, which exists between different groups of women and the material impact of diversity upon female leaders' work.

Circle of women : an indepth study of the spirituality and ceremony of a group of white Australian women

Explores the spirituality of some white, rural, Australian women, and includes their experience of ceremony as part of their shared spiritual practice. The women's self-identification, relationship with divinity, the land and their bodies are documented, together with their experience of ceremony and its power.